Exposed
by purpleraincloud
Summary: Mutant X find themselves mixed in with enemies new and old as they try to save Brennan from a government agency that has just discovered Genomex’s secrets.
1. Menace

Exposed  
Summary: Mutant X find themselves mixed in with enemies new and old as they try to save Brennan from a government agency that has just discovered Genomex's secrets.   
Author's Notes: My last fanfic before I start hitting the books again. By the way, the music lyrics, which have the brackets around them, in the first part of the story, are from Bush's "Glycerine." Just in case you were wondering...  
  
Part One: Menace  
  
Adam wandered into the small club fifteen minutes past 1 a.m., searching amongst the rows of black coats that passed him by for the familiar faces of his team...no, scratch that, he thought, shaking his head, of his children. Closing his eyes, he felt the rock music pulse in his head.  
[Live in a wheel where everyone steals and when we rise it's like strawberry fields.]  
As if on cue, Emma emerged, a small smile on her face, her olive complexion glowing in the orange light. Following closely behind her was Brennan, a can of Fresca in his hand; he waved to Adam with the other.   
[Treated you bad, you bruised my face. Could have loved you boy, you got a beautiful taste.]  
Adam laughed and shook his head,  
"Shalimar didn't let you have a beer?" He asked, his usual grim face forgotten for the moment.  
[Should I have been easier or free? I often fear when you're with me.]  
Shrugging, Brennan chugged the rest of his soda and threw it into the recycling. "Apparently, I'm driving."  
"Where are Shal and Jesse?" Adam asked, almost shouting to make himself heard above the roar of the music.   
"They went to another club to check out a possible location of a New Mutant." Emma replied sharply, "but that was a while ago and we were about to leave to check on them."  
Nodding, Adam began to make his way through the crowd, signaling for the others to follow. Turning, he saw that they did.  
"So, have a fun night out?" Adam asked casually, sliding into the front seat of Brennan's red Corvette.  
Emma shrugged, plopping into the backseat. "It was okay. Bad night for the ladies though, I'm afraid."  
Brennan shrugged, reached into his pocket and pulled out several crumpled pieces of paper with telephone numbers scribbled on them. Nonchalantly, he sprinkled them on Emma's lap and threw his head back in a laugh. Emma responded by slapping Brennan on the shoulder, hard.  
"Hey!" Brennan pouted, rubbing his arm. "Em, you got some action tonight," pausing, a moment of enlightenment struck him, "remember David?"  
"Oh, right. David," Emma retorted, batting the scraps of paper off her skirt. Smiling, she decided to play along, "old enough to be my father...that David?"  
"So of course," Brennan interjected with a grin, pulling the car out of the parking lot and onto the street, "she danced with him anyway."  
"That's nothing though," he continued, "I think one of the girls who hit on Jesse was actually a man."  
Emma rolled her eyes. "We're here." She told Brennan after they had been driving for a few minutes, pointing at the sign that read "Club Monaco" in neon pink lights.  
Brennan pulled over and shaded his soft brown eyes from the glare of the streetlights. "What a horrible dive."  
Emma laughed, patting Brennan's arm affectionately. "Some people just don't have your good taste in exterior design."  
"Why don't you two sit back. I'll get them." Brennan offered.   
Adam nodded, "Make it quick."  
Brennan feigned a salute to Emma before jogging into the run down club. Emma had to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. In a jolt she felt a stab of fear and panic, heard the distant sirens and dimly saw the flashing red and yellow emergency lights. Swiveling she saw no one beside her but Adam, with that calm look in his eyes.   
  
* * *  
  
Brennan had to take a step back as the blinking strobe lights and reek of alcohol hit him. He searched from face to face for Shalimar and Jesse, but found nothing. Pushing his way deeper into the bar, he found a waitress he thought looked around twelve that he interrogated briefly. Finding no information on the whereabouts of Jesse or Shalimar, he continues to comb the bar a few times over before exiting out the back.   
Sucking in his first breath of fresh air in twenty minutes, he looked around the small alley.  
"Looking for someone?"   
The voice was male. Late thirties perhaps...and definitely familiar.  
'No,' Brennan thought, 'it couldn't be.'  
Frank Thorne.  
"Thought you'd be far from here by now." He replied, finally finding his voice after a minute of silence.   
In the pale fluorescent light above them, Thorne raised his lips in an upward fashion.  
'A smile?' Brennan mused.  
"If you're looking for your Mutant X buddies, they dashed a long time ago."  
Brennan snorted. "Yeah, once they realized this supposed New Mutant was only you."  
"I was expecting you to show. When you didn't, I decided to stick around anyway, see if you would eventually drop in." A smile pursed on Thorne's lips. "Glad you could make it."  
"Yeah, well. I never disappoint a fan."  
A peel of laughter erupted from deep in Thorne's throat.  
"What do you want?" Brennan asked, annoyed.  
"Thought you'd like some inside information from a non-underground mutant."  
"What do you know that Adam hasn't figured out already?" Brennan spat incredulously.  
Raising his hands in an offended pose, Thorne laughed again. "There are some things even we can agree on."  
"And that is?"  
"In order to continue living our comfortable little lives," Thorne made a gesture to encompass his surroundings, "we must keep mankind ignorant of our existence."  
Brennan shrugged. "You're boring me Thorne."  
"Fool. Breedlove was ready to blow the whistle on Genomex and the whole Mutant operation. That was, until...I handled the situation."  
Brennan didn't blink. "You murdered him," he answered in a cold voice.  
A small chuckle from Thorne. "Unfortunately, Eckhart didn't handle the situation nearly as well as likes to believe."  
Brennan paused to collect his thoughts. "What do you mean?" He asked, after a moment of silence.  
"A disk, full of all the research and work Eckhart and your buddy Adam did on mutant genetics is sitting on the desk in some high profile government agency office. Apparently, Breedlove had it sent in weeks before he made the announcement of going public on the project...sort of as a backup plan."  
Brennan fingered his COM link ring, wondering if he should call Adam in. "What are you proposing we do about it?" He asked the sarcasm drained from his voice.  
Thorne laughed. "Nothing."  
"What?"  
"They want a living specimen that will verify everything the disk says before they act."  
Brennan surveyed around him, watching as shadows began to dance around him.  
"Throne, you fucking idiot. What? You couldn't stand not being someone's flunky?" Brennan demanded, backing up till we felt the cool touch of the wall behind him.   
"Not at all Mr. Mulwray. You see, as of right now, I'm in a much better position than you are."  
"Whose to say you're not next, huh? You think they'll be satisfied with just one guinea pig when they could easily have two?"  
Throne shrugged. "They've done all kinds of tests on me already...but don't worry, I'm sure they'll think of much more...fun things to do with you. You're a smart kid, use your imagination." Craning his head backward, Thorne signaled to the men around him. "Careful boys, make it clean and quick, this one has friends."  
Without thinking, Brennan dropped to his knees and sent an electrical current through the floor, stunning the men that had begun to encircle him. Shoving his way through, Brennan sprinted down the alleyway.  
"Adam!" He roared into his COM link ring.  
"Brennan? Shalimar and Jesse are with me now; we're just waiting for you. What's going on?" Adam asked calmly.  
"I'm being pursued. Government guys...don't have time to explain now, but I could use a little back up. I'm in the back alleyway of the club. And Adam, hurry." Cutting off the line, Brennan delivered a sharp kick to the man in black who had come up behind him. All around him was the 'ping' sound of bullets ricocheting off the walls. Stray bullets ripped through Brennan's arm and leg and grazed his chest. He went down, just as pain exploded from the back of his head. Blindly, Brennan shot electric bolts from his fingertips. The sound of a grunt and a collapsing body told him he made contact. Then the world faded to black. 


	2. Exodus

Author's Notes: Short chapter, sorry, I have to get ready to move in two days so things have been hectic.

Part Two: Exodus

            "There's been a breach of security." Adam told Jesse, affirming calm in his voice.

            "What do you mean?" Jesse asked, walking with Adam down the halls of Sanctuary to the main computer server. As he reached the terminal, he threw his body down on the chair and logged onto the system. Leaning forward to look at the screen over Jesse's face, Adam spoke again in a softer voice.

            "I need you to contact the heads of each safe house and have them prepare to move their occupants into the motherhouse, effective immediately."

            "What's happened?" Jesse asked, already working on doing what was asked of him. Running a hand through his short, curly hair, Adam sighed.

            "We've been exposed," Adam asserted grimly. Jesse nodded, too involved in his task to let the weight of Adam's words sink in. "Shal?" Adam spoke into the COM link.

            "Yeah Adam?" 

            "Fire up the Double Helix. We need to get a move on."

            "Right."

            Adam listened quietly for a minute even though the link had been cut off.

            "What's going to happen to us now, Adam?" Jesse asked, looking up from the screen into Adam's eyes like a child asking about God. "We can't all run from them."

            Adam nodded knowingly, in his eyes a ferocity the likes of which Jesse had never encountered before. "Don't worry Jesse, I have no intention of running."

* * *

            "Emma?" 

Shalimar. Again.

"Emma, I know you're there. Answer me. Where are you?"

Carelessly, Emma removed her COM ring, severing Shalimar's line, and placed the ring in her back pocket. Then continued on her way, walking up and down nameless streets for half an hour, wondering why she couldn't shake the numbness in her limbs. When she reached the hard, metal doors, she threw them open rudely and stepped into the warm, open space. She closed her eyes, feeling safer than she had been in the past twenty-four hours. 

Finding her limbs, she approached the large idol, exquisitely crafted to look like it was ready to emerge from the altar and hold her.

'I haven't set foot in a church since I was ten,' she thought lamely to herself. She closed her eyes and searched amongst the millions of emotions…but there was nothing. No familiar presence washed over her, no trace of Brennan's whereabouts. 'I don't usually pray, but for you Bren, I'll make an exception. You better be out there, somewhere, alive.'

* * *

            "All right everybody, I want you to grab three personal belongings and be ready for transport in five minutes. We have no time for arguments. Go." Jesse ordered to the large crowd of murmuring mutants in an unspecified underground mutant safe house. Around him the crowd quick dispersed and people were throwing in blankets and old pictures onto the Double Helix for transport.

            Shalimar watched the weary, stricken faces of the younger mutants, devastated at having to give up their homes and identities to flee to the motherhouse. Quickly squelching the rising taste of bile in her throat she cried, "You heard the man, fellas. Hustle!" 

            They took off for London several minutes later. Jesse, standing in the middle of the crowd, voiced his optimism that they would soon return. In the corner, watching them, Shalimar said nothing. 


	3. Stranger

Author's Notes: You know I currently have like five stories left unfinished? I'm such a flake. Sorry, again, for the short chapter…more up soon.

Part Three: Stranger

            Emma heard it approaching before she saw it.

            "Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod," Emma murmured, listening as the sirens died down. 

            "Adam!" She bellowed into her COM link. "What's going on?"

            "Everyone, stop that ambulance!" Adam ordered, the calm in his voice wearing thin.

            Turning, Emma saw Jesse caught in a crowd of dazed spectators. His eyes somber and grim as they found hers. Shalimar, uncharacteristically shoving anyone who got in her way aside, was quickly closing in on him. At least they're safe, for now, Emma thought. Squeezing her eyes shut, she felt for him.

            Almost instantly she could feel the void being filled with anger, frustration, outrage and an undercurrent of fear. But mostly, she felt pain. Excruciating pain that blindsided her and was shoving her out of Brennan's mind. 

            "Stop!" She screamed. The hand on her shoulder thrust her back into the physical world. It was Adam. But she already knew what he had come to tell her. 

_            "Brennan's gone."_

_* * *_

            "Miss? I'm sorry, but you'll have to wake up now," An unfamiliar voice called to Emma from the depth of her unrest.

            "Wha? What?" She replied, groggily, not yet realizing that she had fallen asleep on the pew.

            "Service will be commencing in another hour or so."

            Craning her stiff neck, she looked into the kind blue eyes of a tall man in a dark suit with a white collar.

            "I'm…I'm so sorry Father." Emma answered, embarrassed. Quickly gathering her belongings, she darted up.

            "No need to hurry. All are welcome here…preferably awake, of course." The man explained with a chuckle.

            Emma smiled half-heartedly at the attempt at a joke. "Thank you…but, I should be going. My friends are probably looking for me now." Turning, Emma took a step forward to leave. To her surprise, a body was suddenly there, blocking her way.

            "Something must have brought you here last night…if you didn't go to your friends then, why now?" The stately man asked, his tone pressing, but tactful. A strange feeling washed over Emma. The way he spoke, it was almost as if…he knew her somehow.

            Emma shook her head. "I…I'm sorry, I can't. I can't tell you." Turning, she tried to maneuver around the man, but a hand now shot out and clutched her arm.

            "Emma, I'm here, if you ever care to talk about it. You're safe here…in this," he made a gesture to include the entire room, "sanctuary."

            The hand dropped from her arm and Emma held it to her chest protectively. Nodding, she made her way to the large doors and threw them open, fleeing into the light of the high noonday sun. It took her another half a minute to wonder how the priest had known her name. 

* * *

Shalimar watched solemnly as their passengers disembarked, a caravan of dark, foreboding faces. 'God,' she thought, scratching her head. 'I feel like we're on a fairy ride to hell.'

            "I know how you feel." 

            Shalimar's face contorted oddly; it took Emma a second or two to realize she was smiling the first real smile since yesterday night.

            "And just where have you been?" Shalimar asked in a motherly fashion.

            "Out." She replied, teasingly. "So this is the motherhouse?" Emma asked, taking her first real look around since she arrived several minutes ago with Adam on her heels.

            "Yeah…the original 'Sanctuary.'" Shalimar remarked and stared off as if reminiscing. 

            "It was?" Emma asked, looking around. The place was built like a fortress, ten layers of solid titanium steel all around the 2000 feet deep underground lair. "I like our place better. It's roomier."

            Shalimar almost broke out into a real grin now. "That sounds like something Bren would have said." The minute the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them, watching Emma's eyes fall to the floor in silence.

            "He's okay, Em." She assured her, snaking an arm around her shoulder. 

            "How are you so sure when I can't even feel him?" Emma whispered, taking Shalimar's offered hand. Not being able to think of a good answer to her question, Shalimar squeezed her hand tighter.  


End file.
